Closure for containers



Jan. 24, 1939. 5. J. HELLMAN 2,144,880,

CLOSURE FOR CONTAINERS Filed Jan. 2, 1935 INVENTOR 5&0; J/ellman BY (WM'ihdATmR/wx Patented Jan. 24, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 7 Claims.

My invention relates to closures for containers such as bottles, jars,and the like; and an object of my invention is to provide a novelclosure which prevents refilling of the container or the like, withoutdetection of such fact by subsequent users of the container. 7

An object is to provide a novel closure, all or a part of which must beforced into the container when the mouth of the container is opened, andwhich closure so forced in the container cannot be removed therefromwithout destroying the container.

An object is to provide a novel closure fitting which may be utilized inconjunction with many 25 of the conventional types of containers orbottles and their usual closure members.

Another object is to provide a novel closure which is particularlyapplicable whenever it is desired to avoid possible re-use of a bottleor the 20 like, and the possibility of substitution of inferior orspurious substances, or avoiding of tax payment, and to advise thecustomer the contents are not genuine and thereby to generally protectthe customer from fraud.

Another object is to provide a particularly simple yet effective andnovel closure of the character above indicated which is both economicalof manufacture and which may be readily applied, and permit of thecontainer to be easily 3:) opened.

Another object is to provide a novel method of closing the openings incontainers.

The invention includes the method of closing the openings in containers,as Well as the parts and combinations of parts more particularlyhereinafter described in detail and pointed out in the claims.

For the sake of convenience the term container or bottle as used in thisspecification .55 and claims, are to be understood to mean any containeror bottle, jar, vessel, cans, or the like that is provided with anopening which is desired to be sealed by a closure member or stopper soas to prevent the contents thereof from passing through the openinguntil such time as such contents are desired to be withdrawn.

Other objects, advantages and features of invention may appear from theaccompanying drawing, the subjoined detail description and the is)appended claims.

The accompanying drawing illustrates the invention in some of the formsI at present deem preferable.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional view of a substantially conventionalbottle showing the mouth thereof closed or sealed with my novel closuremember.

Fig. 2 is a view analogous to Fig. 1, showing a modified form of mynovel closure member insealing position,

Fig. 3 is another sectional View of a further modified form of my novelclosure member in sealing position and in which the bottle opening orneck is especially designed to receive the closure member.

Fig. 4 is a view analogous to Fig. 3 showing a still further modifiedform of my novel closure member in sealing position.

Fig. 5 is an elevational view of a glass or tumbler or wide mouthed jaror can, such as used for jelly and the like, with the upper portionbroken away and in section, and showing a further modified form of mynovel closure member in sealing position.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional View of a conventional bottle of thetype adapted to receive a crimped cap and showing my novel closuremember associated therewith and in sealing position.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view of the upper end of a bottlehaving a screw threaded exterior adapted to receive a screw cap, andhaving my novel closure member associated therewith and in sealingposition.

Fig. 8 is a partially plan, and partially sectional view, of my novelclosuremember, shown in Fig. 5, but detached from the container.

My invention comprises a novel composite stopper A, which may be made invarious forms as shown in the drawing, and the invention consistsgenerally in combining with a conventional container, such as a bottleI, that has a mouth or opening a and a shoulder 3 associated with saidopening at its neck portion 2, and which shoulder may be formed by theoutward flare of the base of the neck portion, or which may be formed bya lip overhanginginto a portion of said opening, of a cross-member orslug B preferably in the form of a disk and which may be composed of atemperature contractible material such as metal, wood, fiber, or othersubstances which in addition to being temperature contractible isgenerally non-compressible under normal temperatures and whichcrossmember is subjected to lower than normal temperatures so as to betemperature contracted to a diameter smaller than the opening a. and isthen inserted in the container opening a so that after insertion in theopening a, it will, after being temperature expanded engage suchshoulder or overhanging lip to thereby prevent its withdrawal throughthe opening a.

Preferably the disk is associated with a closure member which acts toseal the opening a to prevent the contents in the container from passingthrough the opening or mouth a of the container I until desired.

In the construction shown in Fig. 1 a fragment of one form of aconventional bottle I is shown, that is provided with a neck portion 2,the base of which flares outwardly in a downward direction from the neckto form a shoulder,

indicated at 3, and continues downwardly to form I the body b of thecontainer or bottle proper. Said neck portion 2 is adapted to be closedor sealed by a stopper 4 that comprises a center member 5, of wood orthe like, and a resilient sleeve 6, such as rubber, encircles the woodstopper 4 to provide means to effectively make an air tight jointbetween the bottle neck 2 and the stopper or closure member 4. To thelower side of the stopper 4, a disk or cross-member B is removablysecured by any suitable means, such as by cement I, and said disk B ispreferably formed of a temperature contractible normallyrigid materialof any suitable metal, wood, fiber, composition, glass or other materialwhich at normal tem eratures is non yieldable or. non-compressible andwhich will at such normal temperatures withstand attempts at breakage orbending to a greater degree than the container within which it isassociated. The stopper 4 in the construction shown in Fig. 1 preferablyextends to a point slightly below the shoulder 3 so that when thestopper is fully inserted into the opening a. in the bottle neck 2 thecross-member'B will be positioned below the shoulder 3.

In carrying out the invention disclosed in the construction shown inFig. 1, the stopper 4 with its sleeve 6 and cross-member B are fixed inassembled relation to each other and then the composite stopper issubjected to a low temperature, such as by refrigeration orcarbon-dioxide, either in gas, liquid or solid form, or subjected to theaction of liquid air, fo-r a suflicient period of time to'cause thecross-member B to be contracted by such low temperature to such a pointthat the same may be easily passed through the opening a in the bottleneck 2. The friction of the resilient sleeve will hold'the stopper inplace and the cross-member B upon being subjected to normal temperatureswill thereupon be temperature expanded after insertion in the containeropening a so that the same will expand sufficiently to engage theshoulder 3 upon any attempt at removal of the stopper 4 from the openinga thereby preventing the cross-member B from being withdrawn throughsuch opening a. However upon withdrawal of the stopper 4 from theopening a the cross-member B will, by such withdrawal, be detached fromthe stopper 4 whereupon it will fall into the bottle, so that anyattempt to subsequently refill the bottle and close the same, willindicate to the user that the bottle has been previously opened, becauseof the presence of the cross-member B within the container I.

In the structure shown in Fig. 2,'the,container structure I is the sameas that shown in Fig. 1 and analogous parts are given analogous numbers.However, the stopper II in this construction comprises a stopper member0 which may be made of cork or other analogous material and thecross-member B has extendingtherefrom an integral short stem I2 thatterminates at its free end in a knob I3 which together with a stem I2 isforced into the lower end of the stopper member 0 so that thecross-member B is disengaged therefrom by withdrawal of the stoppermember 0 from the opening a, or by action of a cork screw being turnedinto the stopper member c a sufl'icient distance that the free end ofsuch cork screw will engage and force the cross-member B into thecontainer proper thereby permitting the stopper member to be readilyremoved from the opening; or in the event the means for removing thestopper member 0 from the bottle opening a does not engage thecross-member B as aforesaid, the stem I2 and knob I3 are easily removedfrom the member 0 so as to permit easy disengagement of the stoppermember 0 and cross-member B. The insertion and securement of thecross-member B within the bottle is the same as hereinabove set forth towit: the same is temperature contracted before insertion and temperatureexpanded after insertion.

In the structure shown in Fig. 3 the bottle I is the same ashereinbefore described, except that the opening a formed in the neck 2is provided with a shoulder 2| against the underside of which thecross-member B after being temperature expanded in the bottle neck 2engages, so as to prevent its being withdrawn from the bottle opening abut requires its being depressed into the body b of the bottle I. Inthis construction a stopper member 24 engages the opening a of thecontainer below the shoulder 2| and a stopper member 25 engages theopening a above the shoulder 2| to thereby effectively seal and closethe container opening a and prevent the contents of the bottle I fromcoming into contact with the cross-member B, thereby preventing anycontamination of the container contents by its engagement with thecross-member B in the event the cross-member is made of material likelyto contaminate the contents in the bottle I. However the cross-member Bis preferably made of material which will not effect the contents placedin the container with which it is associated. In this construction thestopper members 24 and 25 may be made of cork or other similar materialand the cross-member B is secured thereto by any suitable means such asby a cement.

In the construction shown in Fig. 4, the parts are similar to thoseshown in Fig. 3, except that the shoulder 2 I is adjacent the upper endof the bottle neck 2 and the same, as theshoulder 2|, forms an integralshoulder or overhanging lip against which the cross-member B engages.Also in the construction shown in Fig. 4 the stopper member 25 iseliminated and the stopper member 24 is preferably made of such lengthas to effectively seal the container opening a. The cross-member is, asin all the cases hereinabove mentioned, temperature contracted beforeinsertion and temperature expanded after insertion into the opening a,and to open the container after insertion of the closure member w, boththe stopper member 24' and the cross-member or disk B must be forcedinto the body b of the bottle I. I

In the construction shown in Fig. 6the container is of substantially thesame type as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and the exterior of thecontainer opening is provided with a bead 4| adapted to receive aconventional crimped cap 42 that serves as a closure member. It is to beunderstood, however, that such bead 4| is not necessary ,in carrying outmy invention with re:

spect to the container shown in Figs. 1 and 2. A stem 43 of any suitablematerial is preferably secured to the usual cork lining 44 of the cap 42by any suitable means, such as cement, and projects into the neck 2 ofthe bottle I a suitable distance so that the disk or cross-member Bsecured to the inner end of stem 43 will, whenthe cap 4| is in closingposition, be positioned below the shoulder 3 formed in the bottle I. Thecrossmember B may be secured in any suitable manner to the stem 43 andupon removing the cap ,42

the stem 43 will either be ruptured, or rupture its connection with thecap 42 or with the crossmember B, so that the cross-member will dropinto the body b of the container or be thereafter forced thereinto. Asin the instances hereinbefore referred to the disk ,or cross-member B isfirst temperature contracted before insertion into opening a in thebottle neck 2 and is then temperature expanded after the cap 42 issecured in place.

In the construction shown in Fig. 7 the bottle or container l' is of aconventional type, being adapted to receive a screw threaded cap 52 thatmay be formed of Bakelite or other suitable composition and such cap ispreferably provided with an integral depending stem 53 that may be screwthreaded at its free end and in threaded engagement with thecross-member B. A suitable lining or gasket 54 may be provided withinthe cap 52, as is customary in this construction, and upon initialopening of the cap 52 after being originally sealed in the manneraforesaid with respect to cross-member B, such cap 52 will be disengagedfrom the cross-member B which will then fall into the body of the bottleI'.

In the construction shown in Figs. 5 and 8 the wide mouthed jar or can,such as a glass or tumbler BI is provided around its opening d with aninturned annular flange, rim, or lip 62 that is adapted to be closed bya composite closure member 63 which comprises a thin preferably metallicdisk 64, the periphery of which is surrounded by a rim of yieldableor'compressible material that is preferably channel shaped to receivethe edge of the disk 64. The disk 64 is of such normal diameter whichwhen expanded under normal temperatures that its periphery will extendunderneath the flange 62, and the rim 65 is preferably of suchthickness, between the lower part of the channel and its outerperiphery, so that when the disk 64 is expanded under normaltemperatures, as aforesaid, an air tight joint will be effected betweenthe side walls e of the container 6! and the disk 64. Although thisconstruction does not provide for an indicator being left in thecontainer body to show that the original closure member has beenremoved, nevertheless in order to open the container the disk 64 must bebent to effect its removal so as to indicate that the original seal hasbeen opened. This seal or disk 64 may be removed by inserting a sharppointed instrument through the disk 64 and prying upon the same tocontract its periphery to permit its removal from underneath the lip 62.

The cross-member or disk B or B may be called a tell-tale that willindicate to a user that the original seal of the container has beenbroken, and it may also carry advertisements thereon indicating a valueas a premium or the like, which may be redeemable, and thereby cause ornecessitate the breakage and destruction of the container to obtain suchdisk, thereby insuring destruction of the container of the originalmanufacturer or distributor to obtain such premium slug, and thus tendto insure or prevent using such original container for refillingpurposes by unauthorized persons who may desire to do so and pass offsuch refilled container as a genuine or original package.

In carrying out the invention I may also desire to take a compressiblestopper member, such as the member H and first, reduce it in itsdiametrical area by compression and then subject such member torefrigeration or low temperatures to retain or cause said member toremain in such compressed condition, until the same is placed in theopening in a bottle neck, and then subjecting the same to normaltemperatures which will permit expansion of the stopper member and causea tight fit to be made to effectively seal the opening in the bottle.This will permit the entrance of the stopper member into such openingwith the greatest ease.

From the foregoing it will be seen that my novel method of sealing andclosing the openings or containers, vessels, jars, bottles and the likeconsists of first filling the container with its contents and theninserting a stopper into the opening of such container, but whichstopper has first been subjected to sub-normal temperatures to contractthe same, then inserting such stopper into such opening and subjectingthe same to normal temperatures to permit expansion of the stopper intothe container opening to seal the same, and permit opening of such sealonly by forcing an indicator into the container to depict that theoriginal seal has been broken, and which indicator may only be recoveredby breaking the container.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a compositestopper for sealing the openings of containers and which stopperincludes a normally non-compressible retainer, disk or cross-member Bthat is subjected to subnormal temperatures so as to be temperaturecontracted before the stopper is inserted into an opening of a containerI and which retainer B is temperature expanded by normal temperaturesafter insertion into such opening for insuring retention of suchretainer within the container upon removal of the seal of the containeropening.

I claim:

1. The combination with a container or the like having an opening and ashoulder associated with said opening; and a sealing means for saidopening; of a rigid closure member having a diameter that at, sub-normaltemperatures it is smaller than the opening of the container at normaltemperatures, but at normal temperatures is larger than the opening ofthe container at normal temperatures and adapted for engagement withsaid shoulder.

2. In a means for indicating use of containers; a container memberhaving a constriction at its discharge end; and a closure for saidcontainer of such diameter that at sub-normal temperatures said closureis of smaller diameter than said constriction at normal temperatures,and at normal temperatures is of larger diameter. than said constrictionat normal temperatures, whereby said closure cannot be removed withoutmutilation of the container.

3. In a means for indicating use of containers; a container memberhaving a constriction at its discharge end; and a closure for saidcontainer of such diameter that at sub-normal temperatures said closureis of smaller diameter than said constriction at normal temperatures,and at normal temperatures is of larger diameter than said constrictionat normal temperatures, whereby said closure cannot be removed withoutmutilation of the container; and a sealing means associated with saidclosure whereby upon initial removal of said sealing means said closurewill be disassociated therefrom.

4. A method of sealing containers comprising; first, subjecting aclosure normally larger than the opening of the container to suchsub-normal temperatures that its size is sufiiciently reduced to passinto the container when said container is at substantially normaltemperatures; and then inserting the closure into the container opening.

5. A method of sealing a container having a constricted opening,comprising, first providing a closure having a normal diameter largerthan the constriction inthe container opening; then contracting theclosure by a change of temperature until its diameter is less than saidconstriction; and then retaining the closure in a. predeterminedposition within the container opening until the closure expands to itsnormal size.

6. A method of sealing containers comprising; first creating atemperature difierence between a container and a closure member thereforof such a value that the closure member may be inserted in the containeropening; and then eliminating said temperature diflerence whereby theclosure member becomes larger than the smallest opening in saidcontainer.

7. The combination with a container having an outlet; of a compositestopper for said outlet including a retainer and a sealing means forsaid outlet associated with said retainer, said retainer beingtemperature contracted before insertion in the container outlet whensaid outlet is at a substantially normal temperature and beingtemperature expanded after such insertion.

S. JACK HELLMAN.

